A Commentary: African Cultural Retentions in Louisiana

By Charles Siler

The thread which binds the quilt of Louisiana culture is African.
Food, folkways, music, dance, religion, ritual, language, and style of
creativity are among the many areas where this influence is evident.

In 1719, two hundred Africans were brought to New Orleans one year after its
so-called founding. Why? According to Dr. Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, African
people had the skills and knowledge to make the newest French colony viable.

According to Dr. Hall, the French deliberately brought people from the
Senegambian region to their new colony because the Senegal Valley was similar
to the Mississippi Valley, they specifically instructed the captains of the
ships bringing the enslaved to "produce several blacks who knew how to
cultivate rice" and also bring "three or four barrels of rice for seeding
which they were to give to the Company [i.e., the Company of the Indies] upon
arrival in Louisiana." Rice became the most successful food crop to be cultivated in the new French
colony.

Hall has done exemplary work in investigating the areas and national origins
of enslaved Africans brought to the Louisiana colony. She contends that the
African religious retention so dominant in the state owes less to immigrants
from Haiti and the Caribbean than was presupposed by earlier academics.

Louisiana's undiluted retentions stem from an unbroken line to African
culture during the state's colonial period. In a recent article entitled
"Myths about Creole Culture in Louisiana," published in Louisiana Cultural
Vistas magazine (Summer 2001), Hall makes a statement that is indirectly
supportive of this concept.

Almost all slaves introduced into colonial
Louisiana came directly from Africa. Most Atlantic slave trade voyages during
the French period stopped off in various Caribbean islands for refreshment
and supplies, but then they brought what was left of their 'cargo' to
Louisiana. During the Spanish period, substantial numbers of ships arrived in
Louisiana coming from the Caribbean bringing slaves, but Louisiana
slaveholders and slave traders met ships coming directly from Africa as they
docked in various Caribbean islands, purchased new Africans, and transhipped
them to Louisiana.

This infers that African cultural traits, which have persisted throughout the
history of enslavement in Louisiana were not filtered through another
environment.

Nkombo. Though many lay claim to the best known food in Louisiana's culinary
galaxy, nkombo, the West African word for "okra" is the root for the modern
term "gumbo". Jambalaya and gumbo share similarities to West African dishes
such as dchebuchin, which are common to the Senegambian home of many enslaved
African brought to the colony. In Louisiana red beans and rice are a staple
not unlike the Jamaican peas and rice, despite slight variations in
preparation, they are essentially the same dish.

Jock-imo-feeno-ah-nah-nay! Jock-imo-fee-nah-nay!!

Processionals are an integral part of African culture and, in New Orleans,
the second line is the archetypal expression of celebration. The second line
is usually associated, outside of the area, with the jazz funeral tradition,
which is only one place where it occurs. There are a variety of first lines -
marching clubs, Mardi Gras Indian gangs, funerals, brass bands, and a variety
of other, some newly created, celebrations. The name, Second Line, describes
the followers of the first line. These are the drummers, dancers and others
who follow the primary activity and give it support. The second line and its
reflection of Louisiana's Senegambian connection links us to a processional
dance called the Saba.

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Excerpt, American Patchwork: Jazz Parades. Brass bands march through neighborhoods in New Orleans accompanied by impromptu solo, couple and group dancers. Directed by Alan Lomax. Produced by Vestapol Productions, 1990.

In addition, since travel to West African has been on the increase, New
Orleanians who have visited such countries as Senegal, Gambia, Ghana, and
Benin, for example, have brought back reports of being fascinated by the same
use of handkerchiefs and umbrellas as is found in their home city.

The line's movement is full of improvisation, a characteristic that links it
to the processional formats of the Rara and Junkanoo traditions of the
Caribbean and the Samba societies of Brazil. Each processional is reflective
of regional developments born of environment and availability of decorative
materials.

Louisiana's Mardi Gras Indians reflect the influence of the Plains Indians of
North America in the generalised style of headpieces, also called crowns that
are created. It is in the style of beadwork and suit construction where the
African influence appears. The African continuum is illustrated by examples
such as the work of Chiefs Bo Dollis (Wild Magnolias), Monk Boudreaux (Golden
Eagles) and Larry Bannock (Golden Star Hunters) whose "Uptown style" suits
reflect, in their beading technique, Nigerian influences. On the other hand,
Chief Allison "Tootie" Montana (Yellow Pocahontas), credited with the
development of the "Downtown style" suit, reflects a Bakongo (or Kongo)
influence. (Kongo is also the source of the blacksmith and Shango ironworker
cults. African ironworkers are responsible for much of the ornamental
"lacework" that adorns Vieux Carre balconies.) Chief Montana, known for his
sculptured suits, is a retired ironworker.

Modern incarnations within the Indian masking tradition are reflected in the
design work of Victor Harris (Spirit of the Fi Yi Yi). Harris' masking style
relates to the Bambara/Mandinka cultural links via their use of animistic
design, raffia, and feathers, while still incorporating the sculptured patch
structure related to the downtown Indians. Chief Clarence Dalcour of the
Creole Osceola and his designer, Alvert Brown, created a style reminiscent of
the Haitian Rara flags using sequins and beads in combination to create
elaborate two-dimensional designs. The sequin and bead combination is also
seen in the Brazilian Samba societies where these items are used in the
creation of new costumes for their annual Carnival celebrations.

The Mardi Gras Indians also retained the Bamboula, which describes a drumbeat
and dance. For nearly one hundred and twenty years the Bamboula, associated
with Louisiana Congo Square legacy, was kept intact within that tradition.

In the early 1990s, internationally-famed percussionist Chief Hawthorne Bey
visited New Orleans and taught the Bamboula beat to a group of local master
drummers. In 1994, the Louisiana State Museum opened the exhibit Capturing
the Flash: African American Photographers View the Black Indian Tradition. In
a related program, Master drummer Luther Gray gave a presentation/performance
of the Bamboula. It was an epiphany. The Indians present knew the beat.
Though it had disappeared from the memory of the general populace it had
remained in use by drummers and second liners following the Indians. Chief
Howard "Smiley" Ricks (Indians of the Nation), a professional percussionist
with Dr. John's band, remembered it as the changa or chango beat. Other chiefs
present at the program confirmed Ricks' observation.

In Washington Parish, J. D. Warner keeps his yard swept clean with a brush broom. This was once common among rural Africam Americans, but few continue to practice this. Photo: Nicholas R. Spitzer.

Gray, in a recent conversation, added another interesting note: namely that
the dance known as the Bamboula is, stylistically, more Kongo derived. This
information is coming forth as more people from this region have travelled to
Africa and other parts of the Diaspora and are experiencing traditions that
are "more than just familiar" to them.

African cultural retention abounds in the region and is taken for granted
when not appropriated for sale to the public as a variant of so-called
"mainstream" culture. The banjo, for example, is commonly considered European
and is a staple of Appalachian culture that is usually associated with
Whites. History, forgotten or distorted, has removed this instrument from its
original cultural base. Joseph Holloways' book, Africanisms in American
Culture presents an argument, in an essay entitled "African Heritage of White
America," which ties the instrument and its playing technique to Senegambian
music. In New Orleans, the late Danny Barker brought the instrument back into
prominence during the career.

This bottle tree dates from the late 1970s in Lower St. Martin on La 70 between Belle River and Stephenville. They used to be more common on the Louisiana landscape. Photo: Maida Owens.

There are many commonplace musical links that demonstrate elemental ties to
African culture. Ululation (yodeling), improvisation, the use of
call-and-response and syncopation are characteristics of African music
continent-wide. The use of a 17-21 tonal scale is common to African music
whereas European music utilizes a 12-tone scale. Scholars and musicians
involved in research are finding African music far more complex, harmonically
as well as rhythmically, than previously noted. Far from being primitive, African music is considered to be advanced by those knowledgeable of its
origins. Diminished tones utilizing the minor mode, as found in today's
blues, typify the diversity found within the world's oldest music tradition.

Some years ago, Dr. Hashimi Maiga (a native of Mali) played a tape and asked
me to identify the player. I totally blew it, identifying the player
alternately as John Lee Hooker or one of the other musicians out of the Delta
Blues genre. The guitar player, rendering centuries-old Malian melodies on a
contemporary instrument was Ali Farka Toure. The question that has bugged me
since hearing that tape is, "Was the 'first' person to play the blues in
this country playing a familiar tune from his homeland on a new instrument?"

Hashimi reminded me also that the entire region, at the beginning of the
Atlantic slave trade was still known as Mali, then a remnant of a
civilization that had endured for more than a millennium. This area included
all of the aforementioned African nations, Senegal, Gambia, Nigeria, Ghana
and others. This made me mindful that the modern geographic designations are
the results of the European division of Africa for the benefit of those
colonial powers that wrecked the continent.

Dr. Ibrahima Seck, a native of Senegal, has long been fascinated by the
cultural links that exist between his country and Louisiana and has studied
these for years. In an effort to bring the information to people on both sides
of the Atlantic, he created the Bouki Blues Festival, which is scheduled for
January 2002 in Senegal. Music and scholarly presentations on the links are a
part of the program for the festival.

The links are strong in architecture too. The main house at Louisiana's Laura
Plantation, for example, was designed in a style that is distinctly
Senegalese and perfect for the climatic similarities that exist between the
two regions. A quick aside: the name Tchula (A Mississippi Delta town),
according to Museum consultant, Dr. Deborah Mack, is a Senegalese word for
village. Further investigation of language links should provide interesting
results for future researcher in that area.

Many religious traditions, even among Whites in certain areas, are tied to
the cultural practices of West Africa. Ring shouts, possessions ("shouting"
amongst the Baptist and other groups), dance, drumming and
speaking-in-tongues (ecstatic speech) are features of African religions. One
may view voodoo and its variants as part of this aspect of a massive cultural
Diaspora that has survived despite efforts to suppress it.

In parts of Northern Louisiana and Southern Arkansas the "Easter Rock"
tradition is found. Easter Rock uses a modified ring ritual that is also
found in other parts of the southeastern U.S. - Georgia, the Carolinas, and
many of the Caribbean Islands. Louisiana's expert on the tradition, Dr. Joyce
M. Jackson (Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge) is another scholar
traveling to Africa to present a paper on Easter Rock and its links to
practices that still exist on that continent.

Throughout the state there are "Spirit Houses" that represent the diversity
of West African survivals that are considered a part of so-called mainstream
traditions. We also find the mixing of religious practices such as Yoruba and
Haitian VooDoo with Catholicism. The mixing of African religions with those
imposed by slave masters grew out of the need of the enslaved for survival.
This blending of religions (which included selecting "saints" to represent
African gods) provided a disguise for the continuation of the African's own
belief systems. Information regarding this practice is supported by research
in Africa, as noted by Dr. John Mbiti, who indicated that Africans tended to
convert the missionary and conquering religions on that continent by blending
them with traditional beliefs.

Congo Square's prominence as a spiritual site among African-Americans in New
Orleans, is rarely viewed as such by outsiders because of the association
with music and dance by the tourism industry. However, the aforementioned
spiritual retentions maintained along with the music and dance provided a
basis for the Africanization of so-called mainstream religions in Louisiana.

Other indicators are also found throughout the state. Kathe Hambrick of the
River Road African Museum (Gonzales and Donaldsonville) cites the finding of
an egg with pins stuck into the shell. This is similar to, but an obvious
adaptation of, a ritual device known as an nkisi (usually a figure or object
that is pierced with nails or bits of metal whose purpose is to be a vessel
and functions as an avatar used to contain pain or evil). The device,
described by Hambrick, was found at the Africa Plantation near Donaldsonville.

Other items, such as a cowrie (Africa Plantation) and blue beads (Belle
Helene), indicate the continuance of certain cultural traits through these
items which are representative of African material culture. The cowrie has a
variety of uses. In addition to its use as money, it is also found in the
making of nkisi and other icons. Bottles can be found placed around graves in
New Orleans cemeteries and appear in African American community burial sites
throughout the state. Bottles have been used as spirit vessels and, even in
this new millennium, can be found hanging from trees and adorning graves.
This is another crossover element that is practiced by many that do not claim
African ancestry. Hambrick describes having viewed graves with silver dimes
embedded in wood placed atop them. These practices are also related to
Bakongo or Kongo practices evident throughout the African Diaspora.

Robert Farris Thompson of Yale University, in an article entitled "Kongo
Influences on African-American Artistic Culture," (Africanisms In American
Culture; Halloway, 1991) is quoted:

New Orleans, city of the birth of jazz, had a strong and predominant Kongo
element arising from the slave trade. It is no accident that one of our few
documents North American attestations of the Kongo funda nkata seated
position comes from Congo Square. In that culturally fabled place, where
young New Orleans athletes once played a cognate form of early lacrosse
(racquette) with amerinds, Kongo ndungu, extremely long and sonorous drums
were played. The tremendous creative energies released when Kongo-derived
traditions combined in New Orleans with those from the equally sophisticated
Malian, Nigerian and Cameroonian traditional civilizations must have been
amazing. This does not even take into account the final fillip: the blending
of it all with the equally complex mix of musics - French, Spanish, English -
in that culturally strategic city.

One interesting point which must be noted is that, even in the most liberal
report one can find traces of the cultural attitude that has done damage to
the interpretation of African history and culture and, therefore, the
importance of these retentions. This brings to mind Dr. Maiga's admonition to
remember that the region was still Mali and that the current political
borders didn't exist, nor did any form of what we know as chattel slavery.
Dr. Thompson and others of European descent fail, somehow, to remember that
the dominant characteristics of what we now call Spanish music (and music
notation) evolved during the seven century-long Moorish occupation of that
region then-called Iberia. That meeting of the "musics" at Congo Square,
therefore, could have been considered a reunion.

Dr. Hall speaks of the diversity of ethnic groups brought to Louisiana and
establishes a timeline of their arrivals that can be used as an indicator of
the appearance of certain traits peculiar to particular regions of West
Africa. The Senegambians, due to their need in the new colony brought music,
culinary, and other cultural links that can be documented.

The institution capable of telling the complete African story in a
comprehensive manner has yet to be built in Louisiana. There are many
institutions which carry the flag of African American culture in Louisiana:
The Lake Charles Black Heritage Festival, The Arna Bontemps Museum
(Alexandria), The River Road African American Museum, The Northeast Louisiana
Delta African American Heritage Museum (Monroe) have all done exemplary work
in interpreting and presenting aspects of African culture but have been
limited to their particular regions of the state.

The full story will not be told until the space and funds are allocated to
create a museum that is large enough to exhibit and programmatically (via
lectures, panels, symposia, etc.) analyze the history of African Louisiana on
a continuing basis.

Africanity is so woven so deeply into everyday American life that it is taken
for granted and sometimes considered mainstream. If there is poetic justice,
it lies in the fact that this culture had the strength and resilience to
survive outright attempts to erase it from history and, in doing so, became
the dominant creative culture in this state and nation.

This article was originally published in the 2001 Louisiana Folklife Festival booklet. Charles "Chuck" Siler is program coordinator at the Louisiana State Museum.